Sunday college roundup: ISU men first in MVC Indoor track championships after Day 1; women second

Feb. 27—William Staggs broke the Indiana State school record in the pole vault Sunday, headlining the opening day for the Sycamores at the MVC Indoor Championships at Gately Park in Chicago.

The Sycamores currently sit in first place on the men's side with 44 points and are in second on the women's side with 40 points going into Monday's second day of competition.

Staggs cleared 5.41m (17-09.25), breaking Tony Mescall's record that had stood since 1996 in the process. Also, Brett Norton put down a career-best mark of 20.55m (67-05.25) to win the weight throw, and was one of four Sycamores to score points in the event.

Among the other notable performances on the first day at Gately Park were JaVaughn Moore breaking his own 60m record for a second time this season, along with Claire Pittman (long jump) and Selene Weaver (pole vault) picking up all-conference honors.

Earning All-Conference honors were Selene Weaver in pole vault (second, 3.95m/12-11.50) and Claire Pittman in long jump (third, 5.77m/18-11.25).

Also scoring for the Sycamores were: Cael Light, Quincy Armstrong, Jocqael Thorpe, Ethan Breen — distance medley relay (fourth); Landis Brandon — pole vault (fourth); Noah Bolt — weight throw (fourth); Eva Grace Quinlan — pentathlon (fourth); Daniel O'Laughlin — pole vault (fifth); Mitch Conard — long jump (fifth); Brittney Walker — long jump (fifth); Frankie Young III — long jump (sixth); Niesha Anderson — weight throw (sixth); Erica Barker — 5000m (seventh); Cassidy Bagby, Iyanla Hunter, Maria Biskopstoe, Sara Skaff — distance medley relay (seventh); Ryann Porter — long jump (seventh); Ryan Golliher — weight throw (seventh); Kamille Gaskin-Griffith — pentathlon (seventh); Brooklyn Giertz — pole vault (eighth); Faith Frye — long jump (eighth); Elias Foor — weight throw (eighth).

Team scores

Men: Indiana State 44, Northern Iowa 36, Bradley 31, Drake 30, Illinois State 27, Southern Illinois 12, Belmont 7, Valparaiso 5, UIC 3.

Women: Murray State 44, Indiana State 40, Illinois State 38, Belmont 31, Bradley 28, Southern Illinois 22, Northern Iowa 15, Drake 7, Missouri State 6, UIC 3.

Baseball

—Sycamores fall to Northeastern — At Port Charlotte, Fla., Northeastern's Danny Crossen connected on the game-winning RBI triple in the top of the 11th inning as Indiana State fell in the series finale in the Sycamores' final game at the Snowbird Baseball Classic 8-7 on Sunday.

Indiana State (2-5) took the 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth following Alex Marx's first home run as a Sycamore, while Randal Diaz connected on the go-ahead RBI triple scoring Seth Gergely to put ISU ahead late. The Huskies (5-1) responded with Spenser Smith's solo home run in the top of the ninth to tie the game up and send it into extra innings.

After Crossen's RBI triple scored Alex Lane in the top of the 11th, the Sycamores had their chance to tie the game up in the bottom half of the frame. Gergely and Diaz led off ISU's final at-bats with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with none out. Northeastern reliever Patrick Harrington (1-0) was able to keep the Sycamores off the board getting a strikeout and the game-ending double play to close out the Huskies' win.

Diaz and Hernandez both posted their first three-hit games of the 2023 campaign to lead the Sycamore batters in the contest. Marx added two hits including his first home run in the ISU Blue & White, while he and Adam Pottinger both drove in two RBI in the loss.

Connor Fenlong went a season-best 6.0 innings in his first start of the season. The redshirt senior surrendered six hits and six runs while striking out five in the no-decision. Jared Spencer (0-1) took the loss after going the final 1.1 innings in relief, while Brayden Lybarger (1.0 IP, 1 K), and Brennyn Cutts (2.2 IP, 4 K) also saw time on the mound in the game.

Mike Sirota, Crossen, and Spenser Smith all homered to lead the Huskies' offense on the day, while Alex Lane and Crossen both posted multi-hit contests. Crossen added a team-high four RBI in the win.

Matt Downing earned the start in leading six Northeastern pitchers on the mound on Sunday. Downing went the first 2.0 innings, while Jake Gigliotti, Brett Dunham, Nick Davis, and Griffin Young all saw time on the mound before turning the ball over to Harrington. Harrington went the final 3.0 innings allowing two hits while striking out five in taking the win.

ISU travels to Lexington, Ky., for a series against the Kentucky Wildcats on March 3-5 at Kentucky Proud Park. All three games will be aired live on the SEC Network Plus.

—Engineers get initial win — At LaGrange, Ga., Rose-Hulman picked up its first win of the season by taking down No. 3-ranked LaGrange 6-3 on Sunday afternoon in Georgia.

Brett Borcherding and Josh Erpenbeck combined to allow just two earned runs to provide the pitching needed for the Fightin' Engineers to pick up the victory. Erpenbeck picked up the win in relief by allowing one earned run with one strikeout in 4.2 innings. Borcherding allowed just one run with one strikeout in 4.1 innings of work.

Offensively, Rose-Hulman (1-2) scored twice in the third inning and once in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead over LaGrange (5-2), then added three more runs in the seventh to make the score 6-1.

Andy Krajecki, Peter Rogers and Blake Deckard led the Rose-Hulman offense with two hits each. Krajecki scored one run, Rogers had two singles and one RBI, and Deckard scored once and added a key sacrifice bunt that plated another Engineer run.

The Rose-Hulman defense played a key role in the victory by ending the first, fourth and fifth innings by turning double plays on the infield.

The Engineers return to action on Tuesday with a single game at Emory University.

Softball

—Engineers split in debut — At Decatur, Ga., Rose-Hulman opened the season with a 6-0 win and a 4-1 loss to Agnes Scott College in a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon.

In the opener, Baylee Uhrick led a 6-0 victory with the first complete game shutout of her Rose-Hulman career. Uhrick scattered seven hits with two strikeouts in the win.

Offensively, four players had two hits each for the Fightin' Engineers. Katelyn Sarvis had two singles and scored one run. Ashley Pinkham recorded two singles and one RBI.

Kennedy Michnewicz added one single, one double and one RBI. Lexi Fortuna round out the multiple-hit players with a 2-2 performance with two singles and two RBIs.

Nicole Lang added a double and scored twice to balance the offensive effort. Rose-Hulman scored three times in the third inning, led by a double from Lang and singles by Jadyn Winkler and Fortuna.

In the nightcap, Agnes Scott (3-7) scored four runs early before Rose-Hulman scored once in the seventh in a 4-1 loss.

Hailey Hofmann led the offense with a single and one run scored, and Phoebe Worstell recorded a single and an RBI in game two.

Worstell struck out two batters, and Pinkham tossed 2.1 scoreless innings to pace the pitching effort.

The Fightin' Engineers (1-1) play Tuesday at Emory.